


Some Things Are Not as Easy as They Look

by MeganMoonlight



Category: Ant-Man (Movies), Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Female-Centric, Flying, Gen, Post-Ant-Man (2015)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 16:13:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13505112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganMoonlight/pseuds/MeganMoonlight
Summary: Flying is not as easy as it looks, as Hope finds out.





	Some Things Are Not as Easy as They Look

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [About Damn Time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11501346) by [MeganMoonlight](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MeganMoonlight/pseuds/MeganMoonlight). 



Hope has been doing everything she could to prepare herself to be able to wear the Ant-Man suit ever since she had found out about it. Many times she had felt like giving up, but she never did. She couldn’t, not after everything she had accomplished.

She never stopped trying to improve her skills, not even when her father had found Scott and in the end had also employed him. Overseeing Scott’s training had given her a chance to test herself, and even if it had hurt to see him wearing the suit, she knew she could not give up training.

However, nothing could have prepared her for what she felt when she finally put on the Wasp suit for the first time.

It fit well, and it was lighter than she expected it to be. It was also a very surreal experience.

The first thing she did when she finally had the suit on was to go to the gym to see how it affected her movements. Even if the material was comfortable, it was bound to influence the way she moved, and kicking the punching bag a few times would be enough to check that, she guessed.

As soon as she entered the gym, she walked up to the punching bag standing in the middle, and touched it gently with one hand. After exhaling quietly she stepped back slowly, then kicked the bag once, twice, three times in a row, each time harder and harder. The bag swinged to the left, and Hope caught it, breathing slowly.

“How do you feel?”

She turned her head to see her father leaning against the doorframe, observing her. The expression on his face was a mix of contemplation, fear and pride, and Hope looked down at her hands, not quite sure what to tell him. Everything she felt was almost indescribable. She couldn’t find the right words that would convey all she wanted to express.

“I feel like I am where I’m supposed to be,” she answered after a while, looking at her father once again. The corners of his mouth raised slightly at that, and the look in his eyes softened.

Taking off her helmet, she let herself smile.

“Come on,” Hank said, holding the door open. “We still have to check if everything works properly.”

Hope couldn’t wait to start.

***

Testing the suit was time-consuming. For about two weeks they spent about ten hours each day to make sure everything worked perfectly and didn’t restrict Hope’s movements in any way. While Hank had enough time to work on the basics, some things could be tested only after Hope put the suit on, which was why they were going through various tests to eliminate any possibility of a mistake that could cost her a life.

As it turned out, she would have to train a lot to get used to moving while wearing the suit, even if it was a comfortable one. However, while combat was something she could work on, especially since Scott agreed to help her, saying that she could call him anytime, she also had to learn to use new skills the suit offered her. One of these things was flying.

For some reason it was something she hadn’t thought about until she heard Scott talking to her father about her suit, and Hank mentioned the ability to fly. After that she discussed it with her father, and he told her that he would help her to learn, and Scott did the same right away. She had no idea how to prepare for that challenge.

***

Standing outside, Hope watched the clouds move slowly across the sky, wondering how it would feel to be up there, floating in the air. While she was excited by the idea, she couldn’t help feeling nervous as well.

“Ready?”

Hope nodded briefly, following her father inside the building, trying to calm her breathing.

***

As she stood in the middle of the training room, since learning a new ability in a controlled environment was better than doing it outside, where they would have to face the risk of being seen by unwanted quests, Hope kept trying to breathe in and out slowly.

“Remember, focus. Try to control every movement. Balance is one of the most important factors to take into consideration,” she heard her father say, and then she opened her eyes.

“I remember.”

***

When she felt herself floating a few inches above the ground for the first time, she had to fight the urge to move her arms and legs around to keep herself from falling, but it was very difficult, when her instinct was telling her to do just that. She regained some balance after a few seconds, took a deep breath, and landed on the floor quicker than she would have liked. Then she jumped up again, this time moving forward, for the whole time trying to get used to the feeling of her feet not touching the ground.

The rush she felt as she tried to keep her balance, her heartbeat quickening at the thought of flying outside soon, it was indescribable. 

It was also much more difficult than she ever imagined.

***

“Do you want to take a break?”

Hope took off her helmet, and wiped her forehead with the sleeve of the suit.

“I’m fine,” she said, licking her lips briefly.

It seemed like her father wanted to say something else, but changed his mind in the last second. Instead he just nodded and left the room, leaving Hope alone once again. She knelt on the floor to catch her breath, and after inhaling and exhaling deeply a few times, she put on her helmet and flew up. She still could do a few more rounds, flying from one end of the room to another, increasing her speed each time.

While controlling the height turned out to be fairly easy once she grasped the basics, she felt like it would take her some time to master controlling her speed, not to mention her agility.

She knew she had to take a break sooner or later, of course. When she checked the watch she realized that she had been flying for over five hours, but it was difficult to land and leave the room just like that, even if it was just to lie down. 

“I brought water!”

Hope was just flying closer to the door when she saw Scott enter the room, holding two bottles of water, looking at Hope with a bright smile on his face.

She landed next to the desk, far less gracefully than she planned, but fortunately Scott didn’t comment on that. He didn’t say anything else at first, actually, not until Hope took off her helmet and took a bottle he handed her.

“So, how’s flying? Looks pretty cool, if you ask me.”

“It’s… not as easy as it looks,” she finally answered, taking a swing from the bottle, while Scott looked down at the helmet she was holding in the other hand.

“Yeah, I guess it is,” he agreed, leaning back against the desk. “But it must be awesome, too, right?”

Hope took another sip of water before handing Scott her half-empty bottle, smiling at him.

“It really is.”

She put on the helmet once again, and when she was standing in the middle of the room, she let herself rise slowly. 

She still had a lot to learn, and a lot to find out, but she knew she could do it.

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Round 22 of [Smallfandomfest](http://smallfandomfest.livejournal.com/) for the prompt: Ant-Man (2015), Hope - _"Learning to fly (Whatever direction this takes you.)"_.
> 
> Might be read as a follow up to [About Damn Time ](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11501346).
> 
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
